Jail for driver who used false name to book taxi after smash

A serial Sunderland roads offender has been jailed for causing a three-car smash he blamed on a dog - then fleeing before he could be breath tested.

Banned driver Robert McLeod, 41, is starting 17 weeks behind bars after a court heard he caused the crash seconds after leaving the city’s Ivy House pub.

McLeod, of Cossack Terrace, Pallion, was caught on CCTV exiting the boozer with a woman and getting behind the wheel of her BMW.

Footage from a household Ring doorbell moments later showed the car hitting a parked red vintage Mercedes in Worcester Terrace, Ashbrooke.

The force of the smash, at around 11pm on Sunday, April 16, caused over £4,000 of damage to the Mercedes and sent it careering into a second motor.

McLeod then used a false name in phoning a taxi on his mobile, which along with DNA evidence linked him to the crash, prosecutor Ruth Foster said.

She said McLeod, who has previous convictions for driving while banned and drink and drug driving, would have been breathalysed had he stayed at the scene.

He claimed the crash had been caused by a pooch running into the road – and that he had not been boozing, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.

Mrs Foster added: “The defendant was seen leaving the Ivy House with a female and getting into a black BMW.

“The vehicle is seen being driven at speed and into a red Mercedes, which shunts another vehicle.

“The defendant is seen getting picked up by a taxi. He gave a different name, but from the mobile he used to call officers in relation to this investigation.

“The steering wheel and airbag were taken from the BMW for forensic analysis, and they came back with the DNA of the defendant.

“It was quite clear from the Ring doorbell that the BMW collided with the Mercedes at considerable speed and shunted it down the road.

“The Mercedes was a classic car and improvements had been done. The insurance only paid for a basic car, which left £1,850 outstanding.”

McLeod pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, failing to stop after an accident, driving without due care and attention and driving without insurance.

He has 19 previous convictions, including drink driving in 2009 and drug driving in 2018.

And McLeod, who works overseas, was given a 32-month ban in 2021 for driving while disqualified.

Joanne Gatens, defending, said: “He has significant personal mitigation. He’s in employment and has a good job.

“In terms of the accident, he would say that a dog ran out in front of the car.

“He tells me he doesn’t drink and hasn’t for some time. He would not want the assumption to be that he had been drinking.”

McLeod was sentenced to concurrent 17-week jail terms for failing to stop and driving while banned, with no separate penalty for the other charges.

He was disqualified from driving for 20 months, with an additional eight weeks for time spent in prison.